I remember Ramesh in two ways... his personal traits and qualities as a man; and his drive to excel as a Market Researcher.

The first time I seriously worked with him was when he had come with Cad to make a pitch for our account in Brooke Bond. He struck me as being a stable person; a person who would think through issues; a mature mind. But in the MR industry the most important need is to get a ‘feel of faith’ ...you need to be able to trust the person in front of you. With Ramesh, this trust came spontaneously.

And if the CEO of this agency inspires this trust and credibility... then surely the entire organisation would be built on these values.

I remember a recent argument we had... I felt that we needed senior people for making presentations. The image of IMRB was at stake if the juniors ‘screwed up’... particularly in front of senior managers.

Ramesh rarely argued but this time it was clear that he was encouraging the junior people to make the presentations – regardless of the audience; albeit in the presence of a se-nior resource. His argument was simple... “How else will they grow up to be senior people...?”

Ramesh was synonymous with MR in the last two decades; not just synonymous, he topped it. His most solid achievement has been to be the first leader to take the Indian MR industry beyond the shores of India – through Central Asia, East Asia-Pacific, Middle East and even China. And he did this in a stable organised way... setting the foundations for future.

What stood him apart in this industry was that Ramesh was:

• a man who believed in market research... whose commitment was complete... And this showed in...
  • his continuing efforts to upgrading the quality of market research;
  • his endeavors to improve the industry standards;
  • his efforts to improve MRSI when old stalwarts had deserted it.
• his ability to add value when faced with serious issues which needed going beyond the domain of traditional market research... simply because of his active interest in doing new things...
• he was down-to-earth, pragmatic... Was never pussy-footing nor huffing and puffing his way in the indus-try...
• he was a market researcher who wanted to grow his busi- ness... and not a businessman who used market research to make money. His pursuit was a pursuit of knowledge, for the profession.

B.V.Pradeep
HLL

I can’t remember when I first met Ramesh... it was 20 year s ago.

What I do remember is a per son of great integr ity and honesty... Someone who would say upfront whether something could or could not be done... and when he agreed to do something you knew that it would get done. What others only promised, Ramesh delivered.

In these 20 years he has skillfully led IMRB into new areas of research... enter ing new ter ritories... always with a view of maintaining IMRB’s leadership role... Be it in the TV meter, ad tracking, setting up Research Inter na- tional or STM’s.

And he did all this silently; without making any noise... This was ver y typical of Ramesh, the man.

Arun Adhikari
HLL